


Make This Go On Forever

by verovex



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Dadwald, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Ignores the 10 year bs from s5, Insecurities, M/M, Mild Angst, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trust Issues, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 12:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verovex/pseuds/verovex
Summary: “You’re going to feel awful once you see this, and definitely not for the reason you think you will,” Oswald says, squeezing his hand thrice.





	Make This Go On Forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [horrorriz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/horrorriz/gifts).



> Listen, I was threatened into posting this. There's just so much soft.  
> Titled after [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRPfh_DaMlI) song.

*

Ed wasn’t used to having trust, specifically the level of trust that was received or given unconditionally. He was more comfortable airing on the side of caution and casual scepticism versus indulging in this type of norm. But he needed to learn that not every move someone made was going to be one against him, and Oswald was teaching him that.

There’d been a lot of damage between them, war wounds left agape that initially made Ed wary, but they both had the realization that their fear was one and the same. It had taken time, five years in fact, before Ed stopped questioning every single one of Oswald’s plans, not for the sake of providing smarter alternatives, but just to ascertain that Oswald wasn’t going to casually stab him in the back.

“Why would I do that to you now?” Oswald asked, four years in.

“Maybe you’ve been playing the long revenge game, like with Tabitha and Butch ” Ed replied, blunt but scared. He’d been letting some of the walls come down, Oswald had seen it. Ed was less tense and more open about Oswald’s affections, more accepting about words he always thought sounded better as lies.

“You think I’d tell you I love you this frequently if it was for a game? I’m not that coldhearted, Edward, but I thought you’d at least be less callous and cruel about my care for you.”

They didn’t talk for the rest of the night, attended a Rogue’s meeting but went home, quietly slept in the same bed, tending to their thoughts. 

It had always been easier for Ed to default to one narrative, the one that told him the ones he cared most for, would be prompted to leave if he ever gave them an out, but he hadn’t necessarily realized the harm he was causing too. That Oswald hadn’t ever been the one who wanted to leave at all, but had already been pushed aside by Ed too, and had the same worries, the same rough insecurities. They had similar wounds with different depths.

They both apologized the next morning, over tea, toast, and eggs. Ed said he’d try harder, Oswald said he’d be more open. Both promised to be more trusting and trustworthy.

This had led Ed into one of the most content stages of his life. More than what Kristen, Isabella, or Lee had ever provided. It was different. The respect was clear, and the love was too. Something Ed had adapted to vehemently denying, he could accept more freely.

Martin had returned to the mansion some years prior, and by this point he and Ed were closer with one another, and Martin would comment sometimes that he’d never seen Ed smile as much as he had in the last year. Oswald made it a habit to say it added sunlight to impossibly dark corners.

But one of Ed’s biggest fears, the ones he tried best to contain and keep away, like the one where Oswald would leave, would start keeping things from him again, would inevitably find someone better, they came back in a startling manner when Ed thought it was least possible. Sometimes Martin and Oswald would come home too late at night, or Oswald would not come home at all. Martin would leave a note that Ed shouldn’t wait up, or that they were out college hunting.

There was always an excuse or a reason that didn’t make enough sense, and finally, Ed had enough. 

It had come at such an inopportune time. Barbara had converted back to her more preferred lifestyle but had kept it from Jim. It then resulted in a team-up with Gotham’s newest Joker, and burning down one of the best Riddler Headquarters he had ever had. So, to add whatever Oswald was omitting from his activities was like salt to a brand new injury.

He followed Oswald and Martin out from the Iceberg Lounge one evening — because what else was he to do? It was the most logical thing he could do. He felt the trust he’d gained seeping out of him with every block walked. The trust he had for Oswald and for Martin as well — had Oswald made him an accomplice to whatever malicious activity they were doing? Or, maybe Martin had set Oswald up with someone that was much better than him. They were just waiting to tell Ed when the time was right.

They ended up in an area of the Narrows that was not _quite_ the Narrows but close enough. Oswald and Martin paused, then turned a corner so fast Ed almost lost them, so he jogged to catch up, flying around the corner and smack into Oswald.

Ed stumbled back, the breath knocked out of him.

“Why are you following us?” Oswald asked. Martin nodded, questionably beside him.

“What are you hiding from me?”

Oswald sighed, “I thought we’d grown past this.”

It wasn’t the answer Ed needed, but Oswald didn’t seem to have anything else to say. Was this it? They’d run their course? He’d been right after all, hadn’t he? Years together spent plotting, learning, growing, healing. It hadn’t meant anything after all. Oswald turned away to keep walking in the direction of a newer looking building, Ed assumed that was goodbye. 

He stood there for a couple of seconds, reminiscing, wondering if he could’ve changed any of this. If he could’ve been a better partner. If he could’ve loved more deeply—

Ed felt a tug at his sleeve, trance disrupted, he met Martin’s concerned eyes.

“Are you coming?” Oswald called from up the road. “We may as well spoil the surprise before you can.”

“What surprise?”

Oswald didn’t reply, coaxing him into the building and towards the elevator. Martin waved them off and remained in the lobby. Oswald presses the button to the penthouse, waving a pass over the button. Ed’s nerves feel like livewires, shortcircuited his veins. Oswald pulls his hand into his.

“You’re going to feel awful once you see this, and definitely not for the reason you think you will,” Oswald says, squeezing his hand thrice.

The elevator dings and they walk out, the floor looks like it’s strictly reserved for one suite, and Ed wants to throw up on spot. Oswald lets go of his hand to pull out the keys, pausing as he slides the key into the lock. Oswald sighs and Ed swears he could feel his heart sink, waiting for whatever is on the other side.

The door opens and there are no lights on, Ed can’t make out anything immediately inside. They both step in and Oswald closes the door, keeping them in the dark. 

When the lights do come on, Ed _does_ feel awful, and terribly so. Every item he’d lost to the Joker’s explosion had been retrieved, reanimated, or replicated. Memorabilia had been carefully excavated and some still needed a lot of cleaning, or was entirely unrecognizable but the sentiment was all the same. Some things had been ultimately turned to ash, but Oswald had tried to replace a fair share of it. There was a new green neon question mark light hanging on the wall opposite to the main window that led out onto a terrace. It was nothing short of spectacular. 

Oswald sneaks up behind Ed, wrapping his arms around his waist, “we’re hoping to get an electrician in so the rest of the lights will be up and running, and I realize it can’t replace your old hideout, but hopefully, this suffices.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Whatever nausea had been there was replaced now, his heart full. No one else would’ve ever done something like this for him, he’d never been worthy of this kind of love, or thought he deserved a gift of this magnitude.

Oswald chuckled against his back, “I can’t remember the last time I left you speechless. Ed, you’ve never had any reason to be concerned. I will never leave you, you’re all I need.”

Oswald loosens his grip so Ed can rotate to face him, wrapping his arms around Oswald as tight as he can. Ed’s still speechless and he knows he owes Oswald words too, but it’ll have to wait. He hopes his affection speaks loudly enough.


End file.
